Growing a greener west – strategic partnerships for regional change

to enable sustainable, liveable and healthy communities through urban greening Our vision – health at the centre WHAT IS GTW? A regional initiative that aims to deliver positive health and social outcomes in the western suburbs of Melbourne through urban greening We look to foster projects and activities that will deliver increased vegetation and community use of quality green space and appreciation of their economic, social and environmental benefits

Greening the West partners Since its inception in 2011, City West Water has facilitated GTW and 22 organisations sit on the GTW Steering Committee Span water authorities, government agencies, councils, industry/advocacy groups – UDIA, LeadWest and community representatives – Friends of Lower Kororoit Creek, Yarraville on the Nose CWW as facilitator - coverage across the western suburbs, links with government and access to reliable water sources GTW is an alliance of partners, committed to achieving outcomes for the region beyond municipal boundaries

Why Melbourne’s west? The west experiences hotter daytime temperatures and less rainfall than the rest of Melbourne – additional vegetation crucial Prevalence of some avoidable health issues and lack of physical activity in the west, higher than the Victorian state averages Victorian Dept of Health & HS recognises the provisioning of quality green space that allows for passive and active recreation as a critical strategy to tackle health conditions such as obesity, diabetes and heat stress

Let’s go to the map So why trees and vegetation for the west? Earlier this year we completed a canopy mapping project that analysed the amount of tree canopy cover across our service area. The benefits of higher canopy are various – including increased shade and thermal comfort for people, proividing habitat and prolonging the life of assests such as asphalt The average canopy cover across the six western municipalities is 6%, ranging from Moonee Valley 9.9% to Wyndham with 2.4% (which of course as we know is undergoing an unprecedented period of development)

Health benefits of greening Heat - Urban Heat Island (UHI) Heat waves kill more Australians than all other natural disasters Urban areas are up to 4oC hotter than surrounding due to the UHI Green space cools through shading and evapotranspiration Physical inactivity Physical inactivity costs $1.5B per annum Outdoor activity levels related to access to quality abundant green space Respiratory disease Green space mitigates dust and air pollution New York estimates its urban forests remove $9.5m of pollution per year Ultraviolet radiation Urban trees provide shade from ultraviolet radiation Mental health Access to quality green space has been linked to a range of mental health issues such as depression, anxiety & crime

Our agenda We aim to: Improve physical health by creating opportunity for physical activity Mitigate against climate change and reduce heat related illness Improve mental health by creating healthy environments Provide a more liveable environment for all the western suburbs including the growth areas Promote the benefits of greening – public and private space Correlation between the environment where people live and their health status Proximity to quality green spaces = lower disease prevalence Department of health and human services recognises greening as part of holistic solutions VicHealth Health Promotion awards recognised us \ \WHY THE WEST? Our service area The west experiences hotter daytime temperatures and less rainfall than the rest of Melbourne – additional vegetation crucial Prevalence of some avoidable health issues and lack of physical activity in the west, higher than the Victorian state averages Victorian Dept of Health recognises provision of quality green space that allows for passive and active rec as strategy to tackle health conditions such as obesity, diabetes and heat stress

Goals Targets 1. Maximise urban greening Double tree canopy cover in the west by 2050 Green space to be increased by 25% by 2030 2. Improve quality and functionality of green space Ensure quality and well-designed green open space for all communities 3. Increase the use and interaction of residents in green space All residents to have access to quality green space within 400 – 500 metres from their home Enhance the range of facilities to maximise use and participation Increase tree canopy cover to improve connectivity between open spaces and create urban habitat corridors 4. Improve the health and social wellbeing of residents Improve the health indicators of the west In late 2013 our GTW partners committed to a Strategic Plan that outlined eight key areas of focus and targets including: Doubling the tree canopy cover in the west by 2050 Linking greening to improved health indicators

Goals Targets 5. Showcase the economic and intrinsic value of urban green space Create a business case for each green space project 6. Improve environmental quality Create benchmark standards for stormwater quality, air quality, natural habitats and heat stress 7. Advocate green spaces to all levels of government and key stakeholders Annually showcase five Greening the West projects Increase engagement and investment from stakeholders and government bodies Lobby all levels of government and stakeholders to maximise greening outcomes Each council to establish a tree protection overlay 8. Maximise sustainable water supplies to establish and maintain green space Identify opportunities for alternative irrigation of green space 25% increase in supply of alternative water for green space by 2030 SO WHAT ARE WE DOING?

Connecting Action Our Steering Committee.. A big part of our role is to coordinate our Committee meetings and maintain communication with members and help promote their activities One of our members Dept of Health and Human Services is working with councils and us to coordinate RIDE WEST, a Greening the West bike ride tentatively scheduled for Melbourne Cup Day morning this year. It’s fantastic for us to see other partners pick up the Greening the West brand and leverage off it Connecting

Action We’ve also been able to connect university students with real world projects For example VU engineering students designed and built green walls for installation at two primary schools including this one at Altona North PS We currently are supporting RMIT Landscaping students who we’ve connected to Footscray Hospital to come up with a new landscape plan for the hospital’s dilapidated and largely concrete courtyard We’ve also supported social science research projects from RMIT for the last 4 years

Transforming spaces

Stony creek transformation project gaining momentum Opportunity to remove existing 1km of concrete channel and replace with a meandering waterway, wetland and open space Partnership of Melbourne Water, CWW, Brimbank CC, Greenfleet and has the support of the Victorian Government We are hopeful of sourcing the remaining funding from the National Stronger Regions Fund (find out in December) We’re also supporting the development of Ardeer Activity Hub a cycling facility that would become a major regional asset for the west. The design has been supported by the Dept of Health and its at consultation stage through Brimbank Council MENTION MOS PROJECT?

Stony creek transformation project gaining momentum Opportunity to remove existing 1km of concrete channel and replace with a meandering waterway, wetland and open space Partnership of Melbourne Water, CWW, Brimbank CC, Greenfleet and has the support of the Victorian Government We are hopeful of sourcing the remaining funding from the National Stronger Regions Fund (find out in December) We’re also supporting the development of Ardeer Activity Hub a cycling facility that would become a major regional asset for the west. The design has been supported by the Dept of Health and its at consultation stage through Brimbank Council MENTION MOS PROJECT?

Thinking big This is Geelong Road as it stands now

And this is the vision for a new Geelong Road boulevard Explain Bruce Light connection With MPA – hopefully boulevard strategy out later this year

Acting small This was a tree planting project at ATP – reinstating trees at ‘A Forest for Australia’ a tree ‘installation’ artwork by New York based conceptual artist Agnes Denes. Originally planted in 1998, it had suffered through the drought. We’re planting 1000 new trees at the site, 100 were planted this week by children from Altona Primary School Darren regularly attends planting days of local friends groups

Communicating We’re embarking on a new communications strategy for Greening the West This year we launched our website, at greeningthewest.org.au and also have around 250 instagram followers. This was posted to our feed on National Tree Day We’ve also been featured on Channel 7 evening news and in the Fin Review and Herald Sun We think there’s a huge opportunity to connect with the residents of the west and share the benefits of greening in public and private spaces To help shape our Comms strategy which is currently in development we’re developing a survey that we’d love you to complete

Building knowledge Advocating We’re looking to contribute to greater knowledge in this sector and particularly where we can work with universities to see studies undertaken in the west – which does have challenging climatic conditions compared to the rest of Melbourne/ This pic shows an irrigation study at Footscray Primary School where a Monash honours student with the help of our water tanker flooded the school playground and measured the impacts on local surface temperatures to test the impact of water on cooling local temps We’re also supporting a Melbourne Uni led study to examine the role of street trees in filtering stormwater And we’ve been a partner of a Deakin Uni led study to examine the health and visitation impact of upgrading a children’s playspace at Brimbank Park We’ve also been involved in helping to shape CSIRO’s research priorities around green infrastructure Building knowledge

Lobbying Action And the project that’s taking most of our time and headspace – Greening the West 1 Million Trees $5 million funding 1 million trees 30 June 2017 10 delivery agents

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